Chapter Thirty #2
“I’m sorry about the bombing. It’s outrageous.”
“Indeed it is. Thank you for helping out with my brother-in-law’s situation.”
“Thanks for recommending me. I don’t expect that case to go anywhere, but you never know how these things will transpire.”
“I’m glad he has you on his side. What’s the latest with Ezra Smith?” Detective Gigi Dominguez’s ex-boyfriend had been charged with assaulting her and taking her family members hostage during a mental health crisis that Sam had helped to defuse. She’d arranged for Devon to represent Ezra.
“He’s doing well in treatment, making progress. We’re working on a plea deal for reduced charges.”
“I’m glad to hear he’s doing okay.” That would be important to Gigi. “Freddie will bring Mr. Henderson to meet with you shortly in interview two, and we’ll be in to chat when you’re ready.”
“Thank you.”
The BlackBerry buzzed with a reply from Nick as she returned to her office. That’s good to know. Bring the steak knife home just in case. Graham and Laine are in. Very excited to announce them late this afternoon in the East Room if you’re available. No worries if not.
Sam felt profound relief at knowing Graham would be Nick’s new VP and by his side for the rest of this journey. In Graham, Nick would have a partner he could trust implicitly, which was exactly what he needed most right now.
I’m SO happy to hear about Graham—and Laine, she replied. I’ll do my best to be there. What time do you need me?
All the time, but we’re announcing at five. Then I’m going to see my mother before I head for Andrews.
I’ll be there for all of it.
He traveled less than he probably should have because he wanted to be home with her and the kids—and wasn’t campaigning to keep the job at the end of his term.
But things like NATO, G7 and other such meetings that required him to be away always made her miss him before he’d even left.
What did it say about her that facing a few days without her husband sent her into a deep funk?
Before she had the chance to answer her own question, Freddie appeared in the doorway. “Curtis is ready to talk.”
“Already? Did he have the chance to consult with Devon?”
“He did, and Hope Miller is in observation on a conference call about another case, but she said she can multitask.”
“Okay, then.”
“Also, we got the video from Curtis’s apartment complex, which shows him leaving his place at two thirty in the morning on the day Sergei was found dead and returning after seven.”
“Very interesting. I’m looking forward to hearing about where he was for four and a half hours while his ex-wife’s lover was murdered.” Sam gathered her notebook and a bottle of water and followed him to the interview room.
“You need a refillable water cup so you can quit with the plastic bottles,” Freddie said. “I’ll order one for you.”
“Oh, thanks. Good idea. Put it on my card.”
“Yes, dear. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You just looked weird in the eyes when I got to the office.”
“Nick is traveling for a few days, and I was pondering why that always devastates me, which feels ridiculous.”
“Nah, I get it. I hate when Elin goes off on weekends with her girls, even if I’m glad for her to get that time with her friends.”
“When did we become a couple of saps?”
“When we fell madly in love with our soul mates?”
“Not that long ago, I would’ve made such fun of that concept. But now…”
“You hate being away from yours.”
“Yep.”
“It’s a good ‘problem’ to have,” he said.
“If you say so.”
“I say so, and I’m the boss of you.”
“Wait… Did you just use my line against me?”
“Just making sure you’re paying attention,” he said with a chuckle. “What’s our plan with Henderson?”
“First question is where he went at two thirty in the morning the night Sergei Ivanov was murdered. Do you have the video surveillance to show him?”
He pulled an iPad from under his arm. “All cued up.”
“Thank God you handle that stuff.”
“I do what I can for the people.”
“You’re officially out of control, grasshopper. That line, like all my others, is trademarked.”
“Uh-huh.” He pushed open the door to the room where Henderson, still sweating profusely, was huddled with Devon Sinclair.
She’d never seen anyone sweat like that when they weren’t working out.
Freddie put a box of tissues on the table.
Curtis grabbed one to mop up the moisture on his face.
After engaging the recording device, Freddie recited Curtis’s rights and listed the participants, including AUSA Hope Miller in observation.
“What’s an AUSA?” Curtis asked.
“An Assistant U.S. Attorney,” Freddie said.
“Why is she here?”
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecutes our cases.”
“I’m being prosecuted?”
“Having an AUSA here is a formality,” Sam said. “She’ll help us determine whether charges should be filed.”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Then you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Let’s go back to the beginning. Tell us what you know about Gretchen’s relationship with Sergei Ivanov.”
His expression changed from afraid to bitter in the span of a second. “She once described him to a friend, while we were still married, as the one who got away. She doesn’t know I overheard that.”
“So she was in love with him?”
He shrugged. “Who knows? She never said much about him to me, other than that they dated at Oxford and she supported his resistance movement.”
“What has your relationship with her been like since your divorce?”
“We already talked about this.”
“I need it on the record.”
He sighed and said, “After a long, difficult struggle, we were back in a really good place.”
Sam took notes as he spoke so she wouldn’t have to revisit the recordings for details she could easily write down. “What do you mean by ‘a really good place’?”
“We were, you know, talking a lot more and about things other than our kids. We spent time together as a family, and I’d started to have hope that we might put our personal relationship back together. Maybe not right away, but eventually.”
“Were you sleeping with her?”
“How is that relevant?”
“Everything is relevant in a homicide investigation.” She ought to have a T-shirt made with those words on it to save her the time of having to say it so often. “Please answer the question.”
He glanced at Devon, who nodded.
“We’d slept together a couple of times in recent months.”
“Did you feel that you and she were back together?”
“Not entirely. I mean… We were still living separately, but I felt like it would only be a matter of time until we lived together again.”
“How did you find out she was spending time with Sergei?”
“I told you that before.”
“Say it again for the sake of the AUSA.”
“My kids mentioned it.”
“What did they say about him?”
“That Mom had a friend staying with her who talked funny.”
“What did you say to that?”
“I asked what his name was, and they said Sergei.”
“You must’ve been shocked to hear he was back on the scene.”
“That’s one word for what I was.”
“What are some of the other words you’d use to describe it?”
“Outraged, furious, jealous… Mostly, I was hurt. I thought we were on our way back to where we belonged. It was a gut punch to find out otherwise.”
“Help me understand something,” Freddie said. “Ivanov was married—and, by all accounts, happily—to a woman who’d taken enormous personal risks to support his cause. They divorced only for her safety. Surely, you knew that.”
“I did. I kept tabs on him from a distance.”
Very interesting, Sam thought.
“But you didn’t know he was in the country or spending time with your ex-wife?”
“No, I didn’t know that until my kids told me.”
“What reason would a happily married man have to take up with an ex-girlfriend?” Sam asked.
“Oh wait. She was the vice president. Of course that’s what he wanted with her.
Re-create a little of the old magic and bend her to his will at the same time.
That’s some world-class multitasking right there.
His wife probably said, ‘Go do whatever is needed to advance our cause.’ Being in bed with the vice president of the United States, literally, would be quite a coup for them. ”
“Shut up about things you know nothing about,” he said in a suddenly sinister tone of voice.